Snow Sports athletes feature in Inspiring New Zealanders Scholarships

Claudia Riegler and Phillip Dominick begin the Inspiring New Zealanders workshop with a session in the Air New Zealand flight simulator

World Champion skier, Claudia Riegler, has begun mentoring two New Zealand snow sports athletes who have won an Inspiring New Zealanders scholarship.

Riegler along side other champion athletes - Hamish Carter, Bevan Docherty, and Sarah Ulmer, gathered in Auckland recently to mentor eight promising young athletes on the first day of Air New Zealand's new Inspiring New Zealanders sports scholarship programme.

Two rising snow stars complete the inaugural eight scholarship recipients. Winter Olympian alpine skier Claudia Riegler is mentoring Auckland snowboarder Phillip Dominick, 18, and Queenstown-based alpine skier Tim Cafe, 18.

Dominick said that the scholarship would help inspire him to work harder and achieve his goal of representing New Zealand at the next two Winter Olympics games.

"I spend most of my time training and competing in Europe or America so the travel assistance from Air New Zealand is fantastic news. The scholarship is going to help turn my dream of competing in the Winter Olympics into a reality," said Dominick, who completed his first workshop session with Claudia last week.

The innovative programme, endorsed by the New Zealand Olympic Committee, provides eight leading young athletes with international travel and mentoring assistance from champion sportspeople Sarah Ulmer, Hamish Carter, Bevan Docherty and world champion skier Claudia Riegler.

Selected from more than 130 applicants from around the country, five of the eight scholarship winners met their mentors for the first time today for a half day workshop session which included one-on-one meetings and a team building session in an Air New Zealand B747 flight simulator.

Addressing the mentors and scholarship recipients at the event, Air New Zealand Chief Executive Officer Rob Fyfe said the programme gave top sportspeople the ability to share their knowledge, experience and inspiration with tomorrow's sporting elite.

"The scholarship recipients are talented, driven, and committed to representing New Zealand at Olympic level but as young athletes they're under immense pressure to balance training with study and jobs. Pairing them up with a top sportsperson gives them the opportunity to learn from their predecessors and hopefully gain valuable knowledge and insights that will help them pursue and achieve their dreams.

"We'll also provide return flights to an international sports event so they can undertake what is so critically important to the development of an elite athlete," Mr Fyfe said.

Sam Bewley, an 18-year-old cyclist from Rotorua who became the first New Zealander since Ulmer in 1994 to win twin medals at track cycling's junior world championships said the scholarship is great news for athletes at his level.

"This scholarship gives me the opportunity to talk to Sarah about the sacrifices she made to not only get to the top but to stay there. Winning this scholarship means medals at these events, not just attendance," said Bewley.

Ulmer is also mentoring 18-year-old Wellingtonian Jessica Penney, the reigning under-19 long jump national champion.

Christchurch triathlete Andrea Hewitt, who is preparing for the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in March, said she hoped that having Olympic triathlon champion Hamish Carter in her support team would make the difference between a gold medal and being in the pack.

Swimmer Cara Baker is also being mentored by Carter. At just 15-years-old, Baker is one of New Zealand's most promising freestyle and medley swimmers, having broken six age-group records in the past three years.

Bevan Docherty, Athens silver medallist and winner of the 2004 triathlon world title is mentoring 22-year-old triathlete Nicky Samuels and middle distance runner Alice Webster, both from Dunedin.

Nineteen-year-old Webster intends to use her travel prize to compete in a number of competitions including the 2006 junior World Championships, the World Mountain Running Champs or the 2007 World University Games.

Today's meet is one of two annual half-day workshops. In addition to this, scholarship winners will have regular access to their mentors as they work towards achieving the goals set at today's workshop.

"All too often we look offshore to obtain the expertise and experience needed to grow young people in our country, when in fact we have a huge talent pool right here in New Zealand," said Mr Fyfe.

More information on Air New Zealand's Inspiring New Zealanders programme is available at www.inspiringnewzealanders.com